Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW
Russell Branyan led the 2010 Mariners with 15 home runs. His season represents the fewest plate appearances needed (238 on the M's) relative to the team leader (32.5% of Ichiro) for a club's home run leader with 10+ home runs. Branyan was traded to the M's midway through the season after spending the first half on the Cleveland Indians. The Mariner's CF Franklin Gutierrez was second with 12 homers.
If you include seasons where a club's HR leader had less than ten, then Nick Altrock holds the record. In just nine plate appearances, he hit one of Washington's four homers in the 1918 season. Walter Johnson, Howie Shanks and Joe Judge had the other three.
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The fun part of that stat is that means that
half of Washington's dingers that year were hit by pitchers. (I'm sure Altrock was pinch-hitting,as he was mostly a coach by then, but his career was pitching. And being a clown, but that's a different story.)
Nice to see Joe Judge still able to coach the NY Giants of the NFL, 104 years later. Wise move to hire such a veteran, I guess.
Howie Shanks is the only man to ever reach base in an official perfect game. He was the leadoff hitter in that 1917 "perfecto" the Red Sox recorded against Washington. Babe Ruth walked Shanks, argued the call and got ejected. Ernie Shore came in, Shanks was caught stealing, and Shore retired the remaining 26 batters in order. And from 1917-1991, this was recognized as a perfecto, until MLB sobered up.
(I disliked a lot of the disqualifications, such as "it's not a no-hitter if the home team doesn't bat in the 9th" [it's not Andy Hawkins's fault his "defense" was so terrible they let in
four runs] or "it doesn't count if you pitch 9+ no-hit innings but then allow a hit later in extra innings" [how are you kicking Harvey Haddix out of the record books??], but yeah…Shore's "perfect game" was clearly a bit suss. JMO.)